Vosburg, 54, fulfilled her dream of teaching

Published 8:56 pm, Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Donna Vosburg, 54, had been a teacher for seven years at Locke Hill Elementary.

Donna Vosburg, 54, had been a teacher for seven years at Locke Hill Elementary.

Vosburg, 54, fulfilled her dream of teaching

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Though it took years for Donna Vosburg to switch careers, once she decided to be a teacher, nothing got in her way.

“She went in with such confidence,” her sister Teena Vosburg said. “She was just never one to be afraid to do anything; she didn't care what anybody said.”

Donna Vosburg died Friday from complications related to surgery. She was 54.

She was raised in a military family in Texas, Wyoming, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. She was the oldest of three daughters, and the girls especially loved Puerto Rico. “We lived on base, Ramey AFB, in the old officers' quarters,” her sister recalled. “There was a park right outside our front yard, and we could get on our bikes and ride all day long.”

When her father retired, Vosburg's family settled in San Antonio, and she graduated from John Jay High School in the mid-1970s. “Donna was very book-smart,” her sister said. “Everything was about school, school, school.”

Vosburg worked full time in the corporate world as a secretary and administrative assistant but was never quite satisfied with that career. She went to night school for years, eventually earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with a minor in business administration from what was then Southwest Texas State University.

After Vosburg's marriage ended in her mid-40s, she got serious about becoming a teacher, her sister said. She quit her job and enrolled full time at the University of Texas at San Antonio to obtain her teaching certification.

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“She wasn't afraid at her age to drop everything and go back,” Teena Vosburg said. “She said, 'This is what I want to do,' and it was hard work — very, very hard.”

Donna Vosburg became a full-time teacher in 2005.

In the past seven years, she taught kindergarten, first, second and third grades at Locke Hill Elementary School. She enjoyed all of it, from helping students cope with separation anxiety in kindergarten to teaching the more mature third graders, her sister said. Vosburg also had a knack for sewing and baking, skills she learned in homemaking class. “We made our own clothes,” her sister recalled.

When her sisters married, she made their wedding cakes.

“Donna was a great cake decorator,” Teena Vosburg said. “She was so talented, it was natural for her.” Donna Vosburg made friends wherever she went, her sister said.

“She was one of those people you could talk to. She would listen to you, whether she knew you or not,” said Teena Vosburg.

And she knew how to get things done. “She was not afraid to do something, go somewhere, anything she had to do — she'd find a way to do it,” her sister said.